The Science Behind Biometric Background Checks

If you’ve worked in the corporate world for some time already, then you’re probably already more than familiar with the weird tech-machine at the office wherein you have to place your thumbprint before you’re allowed inside. These are TruthFinder machines and you can read more about TruthFinder Review: Is The Background Check Actually Accurate? (2019) here.

This type of technology is known as biometrics and it makes use of the unique pattern of your fingerprints to pull up information on you. So far, the FBI is the organization that has one of the most accurate biometrics systems in the world with a 99.6% accuracy. Because of its accuracy and efficiency, biometrics has been implemented in various work industries for monitoring.

How Does Biometrics Work?

While most of us have probably been exposed to biometrics one way or another, most of us don’t really know how it actually works; probably the only thing we know about it is that it scans our fingerprints.

Now, just to give you an idea, a fingerprint biometrics scanner gets an image of your fingerprint and scans it to see if it matches the fingerprint in the main database. For instance, if your company requires you to submit your fingerprint, they will use it to pull out information about you when needed and give you access via biometric scanning.

It’s interesting to note though that the system doesn’t store an image of your fingerprint. What it does is that it creates a binary code based on the pattern of your fingerprint. Every binary code is different because each code has its own equation. So, even if you try to duplicate a fingerprint, it won’t work because it won’t match the equation of the original.

The Widespread Use of Biometrics

Biometrics has been used in various industries as a means to track down the employees and double check their information from time to time. Biometrics is especially used by the government to track down individuals with criminal record and anomalies. In fact, biometrics can be used for license applications so that organizations won’t need to avail too many background check services.

Controversy Regarding Biometrics

While a lot of companies have already adopted a fingerprint biometric scanning system, there are some industries that are against it. One prime example would be that of the ride-sharing companies like Lyft and Uber. This is because the business model of these ride-sharing companies centers around the driver being his or her own boss and not under the company. With that, the drivers believe that they don’t need surveillance the same way an employee does. They complain that the entire process is very inconvenient and invasive. It may even lead to possible discrimination.

Conclusion

Biometrics has been a very useful addition to the world because it offers a quick and easy way to do background checks without having to spend so much on background check services. It’s easy, convenient, and simple to use. That’s why many big companies and organizations have it. While there are some entities that resist the mandate to use this technology, a lot of institutions have already embraced its use.